Sometimes it seems that in life there are inevitable destinations. On July 2, 1994, Andrés Escobar met his. He had just arrived from the World Cup USA, in which Colombia was expected to be the protagonist. This is because in the qualifying rounds for the world championship the national team beat Argentina with a resounding five to zero. Diego Maradona in the Monumental Stadium of Núñez, in Buenos Aires.
Escobar was with his girlfriend and with J. J Galeanowho was his best friend. That night they went out to party, to distract themselves and clear their minds. They went through some bars in the pink zone of Medellin and then went up to The Indianan establishment located in the Palm Heights. They were in that place until 3:30 in the morningwhen tired they decided to go out to return to the house.
In the parking lotWhen he was about to get into his car, the footballer met a couple of people. They reminded him of the matter of the own goal that he scored in the game against the United States and then he was shot 12 times. As reported Felix de Bedout in the central issue of NTC News the next day, for every shot, the killer screamed “great goal”.
Today marks the 28th anniversary of the murder of “The Knight of Soccer”. Andrés played in the central defense position, he was thin, tall and had a good-natured face. He was one of the referents of Colombian soccer in the 90s. He was part of the national team that traveled to Italy 1990 and United States 94. He was also on the Atlético Nacional squad that won the 1989 Libertadores Cup and after that he migrated to European football.
His destiny was Young Boys de Suiza. Although he was a skilled defender and had good technical quality to come out with the ball dominated, could not be adapted to Europe. In 1990 he returned to Colombian soccer. He played again with Nacional and helped the team win the local league that year.
In 1993 he was ready to be part of the team that traveled to the Copa América. However, he had a knee injury that took him off the court for several months. He was neither in the tournament, nor the most qualifying World Cup. He did not play in the 5-0, but he recovered and went to the World Cup. His presentation was generally good. The only mistake he made was that he was sentenced to death.
A mistake that was worth a life
In the meeting of the second date of the Group A they faced each other Colombia and the United States. The South American team had just lost 3-1 with Rumania in the first presentation. They needed to win in order to qualify for the World Cup round of 16. There was a lot at stake. At that time the country was recovering from the scourge of drug trafficking and the hope of Colombians was pinned on a good presentation in the world cup.
It has also been said that there was a lot of betting money at stake. The Colombian National Team I was bound to win the match. The game was tied at 0. Neither team was superior to the other. At minute 37, the United States put together an attack play down the left wing. One of the players threw a cross into the area, with no apparent clear destination.
Escobar threw himself to the ground, to reject the ball. However, what he did was change the address and since the goalkeeper Oscar Cordoba had positioned himself to go looking for the ball in the center of the area, the ball entered the goal of Colombia. He was own goal. The defender took his head with both hands. His teammates couldn’t believe it. In colombia the dream of being “world champion” is over.
This mistake was what led to the subsequent disappearance of the Colombian soccer player. In the 28 years that have passed since that tragic July 2, 1994the defender has been immortalized as one of the martyrs of football in one of the most complicated historical moments of our country.
Today it is a benchmark National Athletic and see fans with the shirt of 89 and the number 2 on the back is common. They have also dedicated chapters to him in books such as “Play, boys!”, of Orlando Asencio. She has also been the protagonist of novels such as “Autogoal” by Ricardo Silva Romero. Andrés’ life ended that morning, but his legacy went down in history and remains in force in the memory of Colombian soccer fans.
